Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye Trio
Pat Metheny
Photography: John Peden will perform Sunday, Feb. 13, presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
Seating for this concert, in the Alys Stephens Center’s Jemison Concert Hall, has been increased. Tickets are $48, $58 and $68. Call 205-975-2787 or visit AlysStephens.org to purchase tickets or for more information. The concert is set for 7 p.m.
Metheny has won countless polls as “Best Jazz Guitarist,” and his awards include three gold records for “(Still Life) Talking,” “Letter from Home” and “Secret Story.” He has won 20 Grammy Awards — at one point winning seven consecutive Grammys for seven consecutive albums. Metheny’s versatility is nearly without peer on any instrument.
Metheny has launched a new playing environment called The Side-Eye Trio, an ongoing setting with a rotating cast of new and upcoming musicians who have particularly caught his interest along the way. The current edition features James Francies, keyboards and piano, and drummer Joe Dyson. Metheny’s latest release is “Side-Eye NYC (V1-IV),” an album recorded with Francies and Dyson in New York City before the pandemic hit.
“From my earliest days in Kansas City onward, I was the beneficiary of so many older musicians’ giving me a platform to develop my thing through the prism of their experience and the particular demands of what their music implied,” Metheny said. “I hear regularly from new players on the scene who have professed an influence from my records and tunes, and I often invite them up to my house to play.
“I find myself inspired by how they deal with the musical challenges that come with the territory of some of those older tunes, and at the same time I find myself intrigued with the possibilities of what might be possible in writing new music just for them,” he said. “This band setting is what that will be all about.”
Learn more about the Alys Stephens Center’s 25th anniversary season of performances in 2022 online at AlysStephens.org.
Safety is UAB’s priority. The pandemic is a fluid situation that UAB is monitoring, in consultation with infectious disease and public health experts; performances will be subject to change based on the latest COVID-19 safety guidelines. Event staff and attendees are required to wear masks indoors on campus regardless of vaccination status, as well as maintain proper distancing while on UAB’s campus, including at events.